Lancashire is the first location in the UK that will receive the fruit of BT's (NYSE: BT) government-backed FTTX network build under the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) program.
As an organization set on carrying out the government's broadband strategy, BDUK is focused on allocating and distributing £530 million ($848 million) of funding to bring fiber-based broadband services to a third of UK homes and businesses that can't be reached by traditional commercial buildouts.
When the project is completed by the end of 2014, fiber-based broadband service will be available to 97 percent of premises in Lancashire.
Under the terms of the joint agreement, BT will kick in £30 million ($47.5 million) of its own money complete the project. The remaining funds will be supplied by BDUK, which will provide £10.8 million ($17.1 million), while the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and local councils contributing £16.5 million ($26.1 million) and £5.2 million ($8.23 million) respectively.
This agreement with the LCC and BDUK complements its current plans to provide its fiber-based broadband services in part of its overall goal to cover two-thirds of the UK with the services by the end of 2014.
BT said the new project would "extend the company's fibre network so it covers the vast majority of areas in Lancashire that are not viable to supply on a commercial basis alone." Similar to its commercial rollout, the telco will offer services on an open access basis to any service provider that wants to provide services in the area.
Similar to its commercial FTTX buildout plans, the Lancashire network will consist of a mixture of both Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fiber to the Premises (FTTP).
The FTTC network will also deliver download speeds of 80/20 Mbps. Today, Lancashire residents and businesses can get an average of 7 Mbps. Fiber to the Premises, which can deliver speeds of up to 300 Mbps, will be deployed in some areas and made available on demand for local businesses that want higher speeds than what can be delivered on the FTTC network.
For more:
- see the release
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